Covered wood construction element



y 3, 1969 R. L. SPENCER 3,443,345

, COVERED WOOD CONSTRUCTION ELEMENT I Fil'ed Nov. 50. 1967 124 1/2 I 1j' y. 2

42 2:9" I INVENTORI 69 {9/ ROBERT L. SPENCER 43 5 av '45 F 45 M 5ATTORNEY- United States Patent COVERED WOOD CONSTRUCTION ELEMENT RobertL. Spencer, Medford, Wis., assignor to Weather Shield Aluminum Products,Inc., Medford, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Nov. 30, 1967,Ser. No. 686,956 Int. Cl. E06b 1/04; E04c 2/38; E04f 19/02 US. Cl. 522117 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A wood construction element having acover including flexible flaps interleaved across a groove defined inthe wood element. The covered wood element can be attached to a desiredstructural member by nailing through the flexible flaps of the cover andthrough the groove after which the flexible flaps protectively cover thegroove. Most usually, the cover is formed of rigid vinvl wall elementsand flexible vinyl flaps.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field This invention relates to the field ofcovered wood structural elements, particularly those having a cover ofsynthetic plastic material such as vinyl plastic.

Prior Art It is known to cover a wood structural element by applying acover over the exposed surfaces of the wood wherein the cover hassubstantially the same exterior configuration as the wood element. Mostgenerally the cover is of plastic material, especially vinyl plastic inthe field of exterior building products. With a prior art coveredelement of this type, it is necessary to nail through the plastic coverand the wood itself to attach the covered element to supportingstructure. A second prior art construction of the general type underconsideration provides a wood element and a plastic cover having wallscovering the exposed surfaces of the wood wherein the cover furtherincludes a flange or flap connected to one of the walls and extendingaway from the wood. Nails or similar fasteners are driven through theprojecting flange or flap to attach the covered wood element to aselected structural members.

The prior art covered wood structural members as described above bothpossess the disadvantages that when fasteners such as nails are driventhrough the vinyl cover or the vinyl flange, there is danger offracturing the vinyl cover or flange because they must usually be ofso-called rigid vinyl material in order to provide the desired exteriorprotection. Also, the second described prior art form requires changesin the normal construction of building elements such as walls in orderto make provision for the cover flanges projecting from the coveredelement itself, such as for example where the covered elements arecasings on a window unit. This latter disadvantage can limit theutilization of wood elements covered with the protective vinyl member inthe building trades.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a covered woodstluctural element, particularly one in which the cover is of vinylplastic material, which does not possess the disadvantages of the priorart covered construction as described above. The covered constructionelement of this invention can be applied to supporting structure bynailing through the cover and the wood element covered thereby withoutdamaging the cover material itself. This is accomplished through theprovision of a wood element which has a groove on one of its exposedsurfaces com- 3,443,345 Patented May 13, 1969 bined with a cover formedof cover elements each having the flexible flap members which areinterleaved with one another and arranged in the aforesaid groove.Attachment of the covered construction element to structural members isaccomplished by nailing, or inserting other suitable fasteners, throughthe groove covered by the interleaved flaps, which fasteners may beinserted through without deforming or rupturing the flexible flaps.After the fasteners have been placed in position, the interleavedflexible flaps extend across and cover the groove to provideweathertight protection therefor. A covered construction element of thisinvention has the further advantage of being utilized with conventionalbuilding techniques and may be incorporated, for example, in windowunits, doors or other building elements.

Among the main objects of this invention are to provide a new coverconstruction for a wood structural element; to provide a coverconstruction for a wood element which can be made of synthetic plasticmaterial, particularly vinyl plastic and enable fasteners to be insertedthrough the cover without destroying it; and to provide a covered woodstructural element which can be incorporated in construction useswithout the necessity of employing special building techniques. A morespecific object is to provide the particular new or improved articles ashereinafter specifically claimed. These and other objects will appear inthe following description of a specific embodiment of this invention,which is intended to illustrate, but not limit, the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary view of a section ofwall showing a window incorporating covered wood construction elementsof this invention as exterior casings; FIG. 2 is a sectional view alongthe plane of line 22 of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a perspective view of asection of a casing of FIG. 1 illustrating a nail being driven throughthe covered element; FIG. 4 is a fragmentary end view of the coveredelement as shown in FIG. 3; and FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing aprior art form of covered construction member for comparison with thisinvention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the wall section of FIG. 1,spaced studs 10 and 11 are shown as being covered by sheathing 12, withexterior siding 13 applied over the sheathing to form the outside of thewall. The sheathing and siding are cut away and other suitable framingmembers not visible in the drawing are positioned between the studs 10and 11 to define therebetween an opening for a window. A window frameindicated generally by the reference numeral 15 is set into such openingand joined to the studs as hereinafter described. Glazed sashes 16 and17 are supported in the window frame 15 in the usual double hung style,it being understood that this invention can be used with any type ofwindow, including casement, awning and hopper styles.

v The window frame 15 is of standard construction incorporating arectangular frame defined by spaced side jambs connected across theirtops by a head jamb and across their bottoms by a sill member. Not allof these elements are shown in the drawings as their construction iswell known to those skilled in the art, although sill 19 is shown inFIG. 1 and one side jamb 20 is shown in the sectional view of FIG. 2,there being a similar jamb on the other side. The sash 16 and 17 arepositioned between the side jambs of the window frame and separated fromone another by a parting strip 30 set into a groove formed in each sidejamb. Blind stop 31 is nailed to the side jamb 20 to cover the exposedend of the sheathing 12. A space as at 21 is left between the windowframe 15 and the opening in the wall section which is filled withinsulation, not shown, after the window frame is installed, the spacecommonly being A3" to /2 wide.

Other usual elements such as an undersill, side or head stop, etc. maybe attached to the window frame depending upon the type of windowdesired.

The window frame further includes, returning now to FIG. 1, verticalcasings and 26 connected by an upper casing 27, which elements arenormally attached to the window frame as structural components thereof.The casings 25, 26 and 27 comprise covered wood construction elementsaccording to this invention and their construction is next described indetail, but it is pointed out that the construction element of thisinvention may be used for other uses than casing members for windowframes. Since casings 25, 26 and 27 have the same construction, thefollowing description of casing 25 is understood to apply to all threecasings.

The casing 25, which has a cover constructed in accordance with thisinvention, includes grooves 36 and 37 formed in two of its opposedsides, which grooves open on its side surfaces. A relatively largergroove 38 is framed along the top of the casing 25 to open onto its topsurface which is the exterior of the casing. The cover 35 is formed oftwo generally L-shaped elements 39 and 40 which are applied over thecasing 25. Elements 39 includes a side wall 41 connected to a top wall42 at right angles thereto, and a flange 43 is connected to the edge ofthe side wall 42 opposite from the wall 41. The flange 43 is shown asparallel to the side wall and extends into the groove 38 along a sidethereof. Resilient flaps 44 and 45 project from the flange 43 and eachflap extends across the groove; in the form shown, each flap extendsacross more than half the width of the groove 38. The second element 40of the cover is of the same construction as element 39 and includes sidewall 46, top wall 47, flange 48 and flexible flaps 49 and 50 attached tothe flange 48. The top wall 42 of element 39 covers part of the topsurface of casing 25 from one marginal edge to an edge of the groove 38and top wall 47 of element 40 covers the rest of the top surface fromthe opposite margin to the other edge of the groove 38. The flaps 49 and50 are offset slightly below flaps 44 and 45 as shown in FIG. 4 so thatflap 45 is substantially flush with top walls 39 and 47 when the flapsare interleaved as in FIG. 2, in which condition it overlies flap 49.

The elements 39 and 40 of the cover 35 are attached to the casing 25through the use of wedge-shaped fastening means attached to the sidewalls 41 and 46 of the elements 39 and 40 respectively, each suchwedgeshaped fastening means including a wall 56 connected to itsrespective side wall along one of its ends. A tongue 57 is connected tothe opposite end of each wall 50 and disposed at an acute angle thereto,sloping towards the side walls 41 and 46. The free edge of each tongue57 is spaced from the wall 56 a distance somewhat greater than the widthof each groove 36 and 37.

To assemble the cover to the casing, the wedge-shaped fasteners 55 areinserted into the grooves 36 and 37 of the casing 25, with the tongues57 deflected slightly towards the walls 56 to form a locking engagementof the fastening means 55 in each groove. The flanges 43 and 48 of coverelements 39 and 40 respectively are inserted in the groove 38 formedalong the top of the casing and the flexible flaps 44 and 45 attached tothe cover elemens 39 are interleaved with and overlap the flexible flaps49 and 50 attached to the cover element 40. As is shown in FIG. 2 thecover 35 is thus firmly attached over the casing 25, with the flexibleflaps covering the groove 38. The length of the top walls 42 and 47 ofeach cover element is preferably such as to just cover their respectiveportions of the top of the casing 25 to provide a close fit over thecasing, i.e. the cover closely conforms to the shape of the wood elementbeing covered.

The cover is attached to the casing in the above manner after eachcasing has been nailed to the window frame, as illustrated by nail 60 inFIG. 2 extending through the wood portion of casing 25 and blind stop 31into side jamb 20. The cover 35 then encloses each such nail 60. Thejoints between the casing, such as the miters at the corners, arepreferably caulked or sealed after the covers are applied to provide aweathertight joint.

To attach the window frame 15 between the stud 10 and stud 11, nails aredriven through the groove 38 formed in each casing and covered by theflaps, as shown in FIG. 2 by nail 61 driven through the casing 25 intostud 10. The nails 61 are put into their final position through theinterleaved flexible flaps 44, 45 and 49, 50 in the manner shown in FIG.3 after the flaps have been interleaved; it has been found that nails 61can be applied through the covered casing 25 to nail the window to astructural member such as a stud 10 and that during such process, theflexible flaps will deflect as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 to permit passageof the fastener without puncturing the flaps. Once the nail 61 has beendriven home in the groove 38 and its head set as necessary as shown inFIG. 2, the flaps 44, 45 and 49, 50 return to their interleaved positionillustrated in FIG. 2 in which they cover the groove. In this fashion,the covered casing 25 can be nailed to any desired member through thecover 35 without damaging the cover and the fasteners so applied will behidden and covered by the flexible flaps which will then provideprotection for the nailing groove 38.

The advantage of being able to have nails and similar fasteners driventhrough the wood enclosed by the cover 35 without damaging itsprotective characteristics is unique with the covered structural elementof this invention and not found with covered prior art members such asthe one shown in FIG. 5. The casing 25a depicted therein has a cover 65including walls 66 and 67 over two sides of the casing, wall 68 over thetop, and a wall 69 covering part of the bottom surface. In this knownconstruction, a flange 70 is attached to one of the side walls 67 inFIG. 5, and extends outwardly from the casing member 2512. With thistype of construction, when the casing is to be attached to anotherstructural member, nails are driven through the flange 70 as indicatedat 71. There is danger of splitting the cover 65 which is commonly madeof plastic such as extruded or molded vinyl, in the process of nailingthrough the flange 70. Also, where a covered element of thisconstruction is used, it is often necessary to depart from standardcarpentry practice in forming window openings, for example, in abuilding since special provision must be made to accommodate the flanges70 especially where they may occur across the head jamb of a windowframe. In this latter example, where a flange 70 for a cover projectsacross or above the head jamb of a window frame, special procedures orchanges from standard building practice must be made along the sofiitacross the window openings, in order to have enough room for the flangeto be nailed into position. This disadvantage does not occur with thecovered structural element of this invention since no portion of thecover itself projects out from the usual boundaries of the coveredelement. Thus window frames incorporating a casing covered according tothis invention can be attached to a building in the manner customarilyused with other windows.

A useful construction for the elements 39 and 40 of the cover 35 of thisinvention is to extrude each element from vinyl plastic material as anintegral unit where the walls 41, 42, 46, 47, the flanges 43 and 48, andthe wedgeshaped fastening means 55 are extruded of rigid vinyl plasticmaterial and the flaps 44, 45 and 49, 50 are simultaneously extruded offlexible vinyl plastic material. When manufactured according to suchtechniques, the flexible flaps are incorporated as integral elements ofthe rigid vinyl wall portions. Dual extrusions of this nature arecommercially available, such as through Crane Plastic, Inc. and othercompanies, and hence will not be described in further detail herein.Cover elements of this construction have proved highly useful and offerimportant economic advantages while still providing the desiredprotection for the wood member enclosed by the cover. Other coverconstructions, however, may be utilized and, for example, the flexibleflaps can be separate units attached to the remainder of the structureof the cover elements. The use of vinyl material in this fashion for thecover 35 also enables one to obtain the advantages of eliminatingpainting of the wood elements covered thereby, and to obtain the scratchand dent resistance of vinyl together with its corrosion and rotresistance in a wood structural member. This combines the permanentprotective properties of vinyl and the decorating or buildingflexibility of wood. While vinyl synthetic plastic material isparticularly useful, other materials may be used for the cover 35,including other synthetic plastic materials, depending upon theparticular installation.

The term vinyl plastic materia as used herein is defined as homopolymersof vinyl chloride and copolymers of vinyl chloride with minor amounts(not over 50%) of other unsaturated compounds such as vinyl acetate.Rigid vinyl plastic, as for the top and side walls of the cover element,is unplasticized, whereas the flexible vinyl as used for the flaps iscommonly plasticized with compounds such as phthalates, high molecularweight polyesters, epox-idized unsaturated triglycerides and epoxidizedesters of unsaturated fatty acids; many specific compounds of theseclasses are known by those skilled in formulating flexible vinylmaterials, see e.g., 1967 Modern Plastics Encyclopedia, pp. 443-450. Thevinyl plastic material may also contain other ingredients such asfillers, antioxidants, and other compounds added to impart or enhencespecific characteristics. Thus where the covered element is to be usedoutdoors, the vinyl plastic formulation will contain ingredients whichprovide long life under exposure to sunlight, heat, cold, etc.

The major advantage, however, of the covered construction element ofthis invention is its ability to enable one to nail (or attach withother fasteners) a window unit, for example, to a building withoutfracturing the permanently covered exterior vinyl cover. There is theadditional advantage that this is provided in a unit that will notrequire changes is usual construction or design practices.

There has thus been described a new covered construction elementcomprising generally a Wood element with a groove opening along one ofits surfaces and a cover that includes a top wall covering the surface,flange portions extending into the groove along opposite sides thereofand flexible flaps connected to the flange portions and extending acrossthe groove to cover it. The flaps on one flange portion extend partiallyacross the groove and the flaps on the other flange portion extendacross the groove to overlap the free edges of the flaps on the firstflange portion, preferably the flaps on each flange extend more thanhalfway across the groove. In a more specific form, the cover alsoincludes side walls extending over side surfaces of the wood elementsand including attaching means to co-act with grooves opening along theside surfaces of the wood to attach the cover thereto. In its mostuseful form, the top and side walls are of rigid plastic material andthe flaps of flexible plastic. The groove covered by the flexible flaps,which are normally interleaved, provides a covered nailing groove; theflaps deflect from their position across the groove to allow a fastenerto be inserted through the groove into the wood element and then returnto their original position across the groove when the fastener passesthem in its final position.

It is emphasized that changes can be made in the described embodiment ofthis invention without departing from its generic concept. Thus,although the invention is illustrated herewith in connection with acovered casing in a window frame, covered structural wood members ofthis invention can be employed for other uses including door frames,patio doors and interior as well as exterior elements. Wood siding orplanks can also be covered with cover elements having the interleavedflexible flaps disposed in a groove through which the element is to befastened to other structure. Although wedgeshaped fastening means 55engaging grooves formed inside the wood element are shown herein forjoining the cover to the wood element, other means for attaching thecover to the wood may be utilized including different forms ofmechanical fasteners or the cover elements can be cemented or adhesivelyattached to the wood element.

It is to be understood that it is intended to cover all changes andmodifications to the examples of this invention herein described as wellas other embodiments not disclosed, which do not constitute a departurefrom the true spirit and scope of this invention.

1 claim:

1. In a covered construction element of the type having a wood elementwith top and side surfaces and a cover extending over at least the topsurface of the wood ele ment, the improvement wherein:

(l) a groove is defined in the wood element .to open along the topsurface thereof;

(2) the cover includes (a) a top wall enclosing at least the top surfaceof the wood element, (b) flange portions attached to the top wall andextending into the groove, and (c) interleaved flexible flaps attachedto the flange portions and arranged across said groove;

'(3) means attaching the cover to the wood element;

said covered wood element being attachable to a selected body byinserting fasteners through the groove defined in the wood elementwherein the flexible flaps deflect from their position across the grooveas a fastener is inserted therein and return to their original positionwhen the fastener er is in its final position.

2. In a covered construction element of the type having a wood elementincluding a top surface and second and third surfaces along oppositeboundaries of the first surface, and a cover extending over at least thetop surface, the improvement wherein:

( 1) a groove defined in the wood element to open along the firstsurface thereof;

(2) said cover comprising (a) a first cover element having a top wallextending over part of the first surface to one side of of the groove, aflange portion connected to the wall and extending into the groove alongsaid one side, and spaced flexible flaps attached to the flange portionand extending at least partially across the groove, and

(b) a second cover element including a top wall extending over thebalance of the first surface of the wood element not covered by thefirst cover element, a flange portion attached to said top wallextending along a second side of the groove opposite from the said firstside, and flexible flaps attached to the flange portion of the secondcover element and extending across the groove to overlap free edges ofthe flexible flaps of the first cover element, the first and secondcover elements being arranged with the flange portion of each elementinserted in the groove along opposite sides thereof and the flexibleflaps attached to the flange of one element interleaved with theflexible flaps attached to the other element to thereby cover thegroove;

(3) means attaching each cover element to the wood elements;

said covered wood element being attachable to a selected body byinserting fasteners through the groove defined in the wood elementwherein the flexible flaps deflect from their position across the grooveas a fastener is inserted therein and return to their original positionwhen the fastener is in its final position.

3. A covered wood construction element according to claim 2 wherein thewood element has second and third grooves defined therein to openrespectively along the second and third side surfaces; and

each cover element includes a second wall attached to its respective topwall, and the second wall of the first cover element extends along thesecond surface over the second groove and the second wall of the secondcover element extends along the third surface over the third groove; and

the means for attaching each cover element to the wood element includesmeans connected to each second wall of the cover elements and adapted tofrictionally engage the second and third grooves.

4. A covered wood construction element according to claim 3 wherein themeans adapted to frictionally engage the second and third grooves toattach the cover to the wood element comprises a wedge-shaped fasteningmeans including a first wall connected to each second wall of the coverelement and extending into its adjacent groove, and a tongue portionattached to each first wall along a portion thereof remote from itssecond wall, the tongue portion being at an angle to the first wall andbeing deformable upon insertion into a second or third groove to therebyhold the respective cover elements on the wood element.

5. In a wood window frame comprising spaced side the flaps attached toeach cover element and extending across the first groove providing aflexible covering for the groove which will d:- form as fasteners areinserted into the groove and through the wood element and return totheir position across the groove after said fasteners have beeninserted; and means attaching each cover element to its respectivecasing. 6. A wood window frame according to claim 5 wherein each casinghas spaced second and third surfaces connected to opposite edges of itstop surface, and includes second and third grooves which openrespectively along the second and third surfaces; each cover elementincludes a second wall attached to its respective top wall, and thesecond wall of the first cover element extends along the second surfaceover the second groove and the second wall of the second cover elementextends along the third surface over the third groove; and the means forattaching each cover element to the wood element includes meansconnected to each second wall of the cover elements and adapted tofrictionally engage the second and third grooves. 7. A wood window frameaccording to claim 6 wherein the means adapted to frictionally engagethe second and third grooves to attach the cover to the wood elementcomprises a wedge-shaped fastening means including a first wallconnected to each second wall of the cover element and extending intoits adjacent groove, and a tongue portion attached to each first wallalong a portion thereof remote from its second wall, the tongue portionbeing at an angle to the first wall and being deformable upon insertioninto a second or third groove to thereby hold the respective coverelements on the wood element.

jambs connected across their upper ends by a head jamb and across theirlower ends by a sill member, and wood casings attached to the windowframe, the improvement 00 wherein:

each wood casing member has exposed surfaces including a top surface,and a first groove is defined in each casing member to open along itstop surface; a cover encloses the said exposed top surfaces of each woodcasing, said cover including (a) a first cover element having a top wallcovering part of the top surface of the casing extending to one edge ofthe groove, a flange portion attached to the top Wall and extending intothe References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1 625 637 4/1927 Abel 52467groove, and spaced flexible flaps attached to the flange portion andextending at least partially 3105323 10/1963 Esler et 5 2-716 X acrossthe groove, and FOREIGN PATENTS (b) a second cover element having a topwall 815,723 7 /1959 Great Britain.

covering the balance of the top surface of the 4 casing and extending toa second edge of the groove opposite from the aforesaid first edge, aflange connected to the second top wall and extending into the groovealong the second side thereof, and spaced flexible flaps extending fromthe second flange across the groove to overlap free edges of the flapsof the first cover element;

HENRY C. SUTHERLAND, Primary Examiner.

S. D. BURKE, Assistant Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R.

